[Discontinued] "True devotion." The Lamb x Narinder

Chapter 3: Break

"Good god, slow down!" Narinder yelled as they ran, trying desperately and failing to keep up with The Lamb.

"Ha! No! Try to be faster!" The Lamb yelled back as they picked up the pace. Narinder groaned and stopped running, too tired to keep up. Maybe The Lamb would leave him, and they wouldn't have to see each other again.

He hoped.

Unfortunately, however, The Lamb noticed and stopped. "You good?" they asked.

"What does it look like? I don't know how you have that much energy," Narinder panted, hand on his knees.

"Well, kinda need to be fast in fights, right? I'm trained," The Lamb seemed proud of that. "Come on, just a bit further, and then we can camp for the night." They extended a hand to help Narinder up, however, it was quickly swatted away.

"I do not need your help, damned lamb. Don't touch me." Narinder stood straight by himself and continued walking down the path, The Lamb following close behind.

The Lamb held the map, and as the path grew thinner and thinner, Narinder found himself having to look at it so they didn't get lost. Preferably, he would just have The Lamb tell him where to go since they were holding it, but apparently The Lamb sucked at reading it along with forgetting which way was left and right.

"I know what left and right is!" The Lamb protested. "I just... forget sometimes."

"Which means you don't know," Narinder replied.

"Only sometimes!" The Lamb yelled back. "And it's an easy fix, really. I just lift my hands up in the shapes of Ls, and whichever is correct is left, and the one that's wrong is right."

Narinder let out a chuckle. "Which ever is wrong is right..." he muttered.

"That is a little funny, isn't it," The Lamb replied with a smile before realization struck. "Wait! I got you to laugh a little!"

Narinder immediately stopped, forcing his face back to its normal sour mood. "Shut it, damned lamb."

That was the end of their conversations for a while. Soon enough, though, they reached the very end of the path, only trees ahead. "We should camp here," The Lamb suggested.

With that, Narinder immediately put his bag down, and The Lamb started preparing the tent they brought along.

"Do you need to sleep?" Narinder asked. "Never see you do it."

The Lamb laughed. "No. But I like to, and you're mortal now too. You should as well."

Narinder sighed. Right, he was, wasn't he. The Lamb finished putting up the tent and started finding sticks for the fire. "Hungry?" they asked.

"I do not wish for any food you make," Narinder replied.

"Oh come on~ You need to eat something." The Lamb dropped the sticks they found on the ground between the two of them. "I brought some meat. If we start a fire, we can cook it. Just have some."

Narinder is sickened as The Lamb started rubbing sticks together, trying to find a spark.

"You're doing it wrong," Narinder muttered.

"What's that?"

"You're doing it wrong, you do it like this." Narinder leaned over and grabbed The Lamb's hand with the sticks. He rubbed the sticks together, and soon enough, the friction caused a spark and a little fire started.

Narinder leaned back and sighed. The fire was warm against his skin; he liked fire, always did. He turned his head up towards The Lamb, who had a soft blush on their face and was staring into the distance.

"Lamb?" Narinder waved a hand in front of their face, snapping them back to reality.

"H-Huh? What? What happened?" The Lamb blinked, disoriented before refocusing on Narinder. "Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment there."

Narinder said nothing as The Lamb grabbed the meat from the bag; it was wrapped in cloth. Despite his earlier reluctance, Narinder's stomach grumbled at the smell.

"I know you said you don't want any, but you should eat something," The Lamb said softly, offering a piece of cooked meat to Narinder.

After a moment's hesitation, Narinder reluctantly accepted the offering. He took a small bite, savoring the flavor before nodding in approval. "Not bad," he admitted.

The Lamb grinned, clearly pleased with themselves. "See? I told you it's good." The Lamb took a piece for themselves and ate; it was good. "Sooo..I've been wondering."

Narinder tilted his head. "What?"

"Your siblings...are they...blood related?" The Lamb asks. "Cause none of you look the same. I mean, you're a cat, Shamura's a spider, Kallamar is a squid, Leshy's a caterpillar, and Heket's a frog. Those things can't get any more different."

"We...aren’t blood related, no, but we are family nonetheless... were....they domt trust ne anymore, even if thye stay they 'forgive me'. Only reason Shamura trust me is cuase I scrambled thier brain to the point they don't remamber everything I did half the time." Narinder takes another bite while calming himself, "None the less, we just sort of... started calling each other that and it stuck... none of us knew our real parents, none of us had a real family before each other. Each other was all we had."

"Ah."

"You?"

"Huh?" The Lamb tilted their head in confusion.

"I told you that about myself. What about you? Did you have siblings?" Narinder asks.

"Oh um...." The Lamb shifts uncomfortably, "Well.. I did... a brother and sister... they were nice... well... my sis could be kind of an ass but... they cared."

Narinder nodded before getting up, "Well, I'm heading to bed. Night."

The Lamb smiles, "Night."

Narinder goes inside the tent and gets comfy in the warmth of the sleeping bag made of wood and grass, like back at the cult. It wasn't the most comfy thing, but it will do.

He heard a snapping of the fire outside the tent where The Lamb still was eating, the sounds of the night, the animals. Narinder just hoped that while they were sleeping, heretics wouldn't sneak up on them, but they weren't near any of the dungeons, so they should be fine.

Narinder closed his eyes, tried to doze off. Tomorrow they would be off again, just this time without the path, and Narinder wanted to be the one with the map. He could trust The Lamb with it; they didn't even know their lefts and rights.